Witt Loses Game, but Lazorko Loses Job, Again : Angels Send Journeyman Pitcher Back to Triple A After 4-1 Defeat at Toronto

Mike Witt sat silently in front of his locker stall, shoulders slouched, mulling over the events of the evening. Directly across the Angel clubhouse stood Jack Lazorko, his eyes welling with tears, angrily peeling off his uniform and flinging it, piece by piece, to the floor.

Witt had lost Tuesday night’s game to the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-1, but it was only a game.

Lazorko had lost his job. Again.

Immediately after the game, the Angels announced that Lazorko, after just two starts, had been re-assigned to triple-A Edmonton along with reserve infielder-outfielder Chico Walker. Replacing them on the Angel roster today will be pitcher Terry Clark and outfielder Thad Bosley, both recalled from Edmonton.

At this stage in his 11-year baseball career, Lazorko has heard the word many times--and in many forms:

Got a pitcher coming off the disabled list, Jack, and we had to make a change. Too many home runs, Jack. No more room in the bullpen. We’ve got this young prospect, see, and . . .

But Tuesday was the first time he’d ever been sent down because of a lack of rest.

“Jack pitched only a couple times for us, and I know it’s unfair,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said, “but because of the injury to Chuck Finley, we’ve got no one to pitch on Thursday. Terry Clark was called up to pitch Thursday in Cleveland.”

Finley was originally scheduled to start Tuesday night in Toronto, but his bruised left thumb forced Rojas to pitch Witt, on three days’ rest, in his place. Tonight, Rojas will be asking Willie Fraser to do the same.

After that, Rojas was out of Finley fill-ins. Kirk McCaskill, 14 months removed from elbow surgery, started Sunday and is forbidden from pitching on three days’ rest. Dan Petry is on the disabled list.

That left Lazorko, who worked Monday night, pitching the first 4 innings of the Angels’ 11-6 victory. To start Lazorko on Thursday would be asking him to start on two days’ rest.

“They had to make a move,” Lazorko said, “and I happen to be the odd guy out. Again.”

Lazorko and Clark had been Edmonton teammates until last Monday, when Petry’s sprained ankle necessitated a roster move. Then, Lazorko was the obvious first choice, owning an 8-5 record and a 4.01 ERA, with 2 shutouts in his last 3 starts for the Trappers.

Clark, by contrast, was 7-6 with a 4.51 ERA. He has been called a 27-year-old version of Lazorko--a 9-year minor league veteran of limited skills who gets by on guile and finesse.

But Clark is fresh and can pitch Thursday.

And that’s why he’s an Angel today and Lazorko is not.

“It’s a tough business, what can I say?” Lazorko told reporters. “It’s not an easy game. They call you up, give you a couple starts and if they’re good enough, you stay. If not, you’re gone.

“Some guys in this game have always got to battle. Some guys get it easy. I’ve always had to struggle. Why should it be different now?”

Lazorko, 32, has played for seven organizations, meandering from Houston to Texas to Milwaukee to San Francisco to Seattle to Detroit to the Angels. Since signing an Edmonton contract in late 1986, Lazorko has spent three stints with the Angels. And the latest was the briefest: 8 days, 2 starts, an 0-1 record, an 8.64 ERA.

“It gets tiring,” Lazorko said as he wearily prepared to pack another bag. “I’ve got stuff in Edmonton, stuff in Dallas (his family’s home), stuff in Orange County. I’m all over the country. I don’t know which way is up.”

Lazorko sighed heavily and groped for the silver lining.

“Nobody put a gun to my head and told me I had to play this game,” he said. “A lot of guys wish they could trade places with me. I got to the big leagues . . .

“This is just another knockdown. I’ll get up again. I take good care of myself and I’ve got a couple years left in me. I know what it takes to pitch in the big leagues.”

Staying there has been the hardest part. Funny game, this baseball. A week ago, it was an injury--Petry’s--that brought Lazorko back to the big leagues. Now, another injury--Finley’s--is sending him back.

Finley’s thumb has developed into a major pain for the entire Angel pitching staff, which has had to pick up the slack. Witt wasn’t bad--allowing 9 hits and 4 runs in 8 innings--but he struck out only 2 and wasn’t a match for Toronto’s Jimmy Key.

Key (4-1) was making only his second start since returning from May 4 elbow surgery. As the Angels’ McCaskill can attest, recovering from arthroscopic bone-chip removal can be trying, but Key is a surprising 2-0 since leaving the disabled list.

And against the Angels, he lasted 8 innings, throwing a four-hit shutout before Dick Schofield’s eighth-inning home run. Key allowed only six hits en route to the victory, which was preserved by reliever Duane Ward, who struck out three and walked none along the way.

Witt (6-9) surrendered the only runs Toronto needed in the third inning when Rick Leach singled, Manny Lee doubled and Rance Mulliniks singled. Run-scoring singles by Sil Campusano in the fourth inning and Tony Fernandez in the seventh served to solidify the outcome.

“Witt did a hell of a good job,” Rojas said. “We just didn’t get him any runs. We just couldn’t generate any offense against Jimmy Key.”

Then, looking to generate some fresh pitching, the Angels made the call to Edmonton for Clark--booking yet another reservation there for Lazorko.

What next, Lazorko was asked.

“Just go down there, throw some more shutouts and get back up here,” he said.

If only it were that simple.

Angel Notes

Terry Clark will be making his major league debut when he pitches Thursday, but Thad Bosley, the Angels’ other roster addition Tuesday, will be embarking on his second go-round with the team--11 years later. Bosley, 31, played for the Angels in 1977, where he batted .297 in 58 games before being packaged in the trade that brought Brian Downing to Anaheim from the Chicago White Sox. After stops in Chicago (both White Sox and Cubs), Milwaukee and Seattle, Bosley was released by Kansas City in April and signed to an Edmonton contract by the Angels on June 7. That event, remember, was greeted by Angel Manager Cookie Rojas’ timeless exhortation: “That’s the best news I’ve heard in two months.” And Rojas was still excited Tuesday. “Bosley has been hitting very well in triple A,” Rojas said. Actually, it’s .308 and he also has scored 13 runs and driven in 9 more (no home runs) in 18 games for the Trappers. With the Angels, Bosley will platoon in left field with Tony Armas, according to Rojas.

Chico Walker, who returned to Edmonton to make room for Bosley, was batting .154 in 33 games with Angels, splitting time between center field and second base, Walker had 3 hits in his last 30 at-bats. “I’m a little disappointed,” Walker said, “but look at it. Maybe if I was hitting .260 or .270, maybe it would have been someone else (being demoted). But I’m hitting .150, .160 and when someone has to go, they look at the guy who’s doing the least. But I feel I can do a lot more than some other guys on this team; I just never got the chance to play every day. I was playing once a week, maybe two or three times every two weeks. I need to play every day before you can appreciate what I can do. But, I didn’t get the chance to show that.” . . . Tuesday’s roster moves were the Angels’ 14th and 15th of the season. Bosley will be the 20th position player and Clark the 15th pitcher used by the Angels. . . . Angel trainers reported that Darrell Miller (strained knee ligaments) had improved and was available to pinch-hit Tuesday, if necessary. Toronto pitchers Jimmy Key and Duane Ward rendered such a move unnecessary. . . . Dick Schofield’s eighth-inning home run was his fourth of the season. That ties him with Wally Joyner. At this point last year, Joyner had 13 home runs.